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Doctype

In HTML, the doctype is the required "<!DOCTYPE html>" preamble found at the top of all documents. Its sole purpose is to prevent a browser from switching into so-called "quirks mode" when rendering a document; that is, the "<!DOCTYPE html>" doctype ensures that the browser makes a best-effort attempt at following the relevant specifications, rather than using a different rendering mode that is incompatible with some specifications.

Definition and Usage

All HTML documents must start with a <!DOCTYPE> declaration.

The declaration is not an HTML tag. It is an "information" to the browser about what document type to expect.

In HTML5, the <!DOCTYPE> declaration is simple:

<!DOCTYPE html>

In older documents (HTML 4 or XHTML), the declaration is more complicated because the declaration must refer to a DTD (Document Type Definition).

Doctype Declaration

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>
<body>
The content of the document......
</body>
</html>

 

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